Ten Years
by HelenaWicomlights
Summary: Ten years ago, we were but passers-by. Through 'sworn enemies', I never expected you to stay in my life after Hogwarts. I didn't really know you; you didn't really know me. Another ten years from now, what will we be? Epilogue-compliant
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, Helena here. This is the first story I've published on ffn, consequently also the first piece of writing I've somehow managed to finish. At the start, it really took a lot** **of my non-existent Gryffindor-style courage to finally put this out here and I really hope you like it...**

 **The POV is really weird- alternating between people and first/third person...**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

 _ **this chapter is POV Harry**_

* * *

Ten years ago, we were but passers-by. Though 'sworn enemies', I never expected you to be in my life after Hogwarts. After all, it's been ten years.

I didn't really know you; you didn't really know me. Yet heaven knows what I wished I'd known; what I wished you'd known- how I wished we'd known what we know now. Maybe then it wasn't _too late_.

* * *

 ** _"Where're you going?"_**

That had been ten years ago.

The world had paused as what I've tried to search for so long came marching right at me. You did hide yourself well, wearing that glamour of mystery since the start of the year- ha. Didn't it gnaw at my mind? Instigating my damned curiosity? Stirring that need for 'adventure'? It did give plenty of excuses for convincing myself of what inexplicably drawn me to you. You always gave plenty of excuses.

 _ **"Yeah, I'm really going to tell you, because it's your business Potter,"**_

And you stood there, distant and mysterious as ever. You seemed alone- whatever propelled me to think that I didn't acknowledge then- accompanied by people that were no more than strangers.

 _ **"You'd better hurry up, they'll be waiting for 'the Chosen Captain' - 'the Boy Who Scored' - whatever they call you these days."**_ I seemed no more than strangers.

And you pushed your way pass by, away.

I was almost going to follow you.

The _choice_ was placed in front of me, and spending as long as I did staring at the spot from which you vanished, I really was tempted.

But I was eventually held back. _**They**_ are waiting - the team, the school. Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione, Ginny. So, with a sigh, I walked instead towards those expecting eyes. Away from you.

That had been ten years ago.

* * *

But oh how fate plays with us. Ten years- tens years after I'd found out _where you were going_ , turns out _you were going_ to be in my life again.

It's as if I'm asked to make the choice once more. Only now the things I would throw to the winds to choose you are much heavier. As for reputation- I couldn't care less. What clings on my mind is my family, the girl that loves me, her family that I love.

 _I have chances of a family with him_ \- something murmurs from the back of my mind.

But how could I do that? It's not just about 'follow what you want'.

The family depends on me. The kids- Albus, James depends on me. How unfair is this on them- God how could I be so selfish. We're no longer 16, and we belong not just to ourselves, I guess. We have responsibilities in this world that require our full devotion.

I couldn't choose you.

I'm a husband and a father. These are things that tie you away from such choices, Just like last time, when I couldn't choose you for I was seeker and captain, who we're tagged to be seems to hold us back. Maybe it had always been 'too late'.

Yet, I don't know how to just let you go. You were not just passers-by.

* * *

 **Review?**


	2. Chapter 2

**part 2/3**

 **disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

 _ **POV Draco**_

* * *

"We are married men, Potter"

"We are twenty-six!"

You look ever so stubborn- I thought- why fight an ending we both know to be inevitable? This wasn't meant to happen anyway. I don't know what I was thinking, letting you back into my life. Our paths weren't meant to meet again: we were convinced we'd be passers-by, glad to walk out of each other's timeline, during which we were simply _forced to be_ around. The parting was meant to be inevitable like a boulder splitting a stream; deliberate like threads pulled apart from a rope. But water flows back together past the boulder, threads curl back into place without the pulling hands. Had this- us- been as inevitable?

Stolen hours from past days, weeks and months may say so; but doubtlessly they were also stolen, perhaps out of someone else's life, perhaps from another universe of space and time. Fate's just playing with us. Throwing you back into my life for us to push each other away. This time, we'd have to force ourselves to jostle back to our separate paths, those we're _meant to_ be on all along. Silently watching your eyes, I know that you know it too.

"We are both fathers, Potter"

"We-"

My stomach squeezed painfully as you cut yourself off. Of course, everything I'm saying, you already know, but someone has to spell it on the parchment. I hate having to be the one.

The green of your eyes sunk, into a darkened abyss.

 _I'm sorry_ they were saying to me _I'm being a selfish coward_

"You love them", I don't know how I was remaining calm, "You can't leave them behind", it hurts to add to the pain in your eyes.

"I just hoped for once I don't need to be the wizarding world's picture-perfect symbol." Still that edge of independence could be heard in your voice, as pointless as it is, screaming through the quiet remorse. That's perhaps one of the reasons why I liked you so much. "I guess it was too much. I guess now it's too late."

"Being picture-perfect doesn't mean you have to be unhappy. You're forgetting how much you love them."

"But I-"

"No, Harry." I can almost hear the ghost of your voice 'but I love you too', unbearably tickling my mind.

"But-"

"Don't." Don't make this even harder- I closed my eyes for a moment, silently praying.

Finally, I saw you slowly nodding, while taking my left hand in yours and squeezing it. Two different wedding bands stood out against our entwined fingers, a sight which seems to seal both our doubts.

"I'm sorry"

I shook my head.

I thought another moment might just break me, so I stepped forward to embrace you- possibly for the last time. Knowing so, your arms didn't hesitate to hold me close; both of us relishing the familiar reassurance in the contact yet mourning the appending, permanent loss of it.

After what seemed like forever, you were the one to first step back.

Our eyes probably spelled the word we couldn't bring each other to say. _Goodbye_

At your nod, I apparated.

* * *

 _ **Umm, yeah. It's a break-up story. Hopefully the POV switch wasn't too confusing.**_

 _ **Review? Like I said last time this is my first story and I really would appreciate some feedback!**_

 _ **~Helena H.**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3/3; there might be an epilogue**

 _ **Starts with POV Harry**_

* * *

I couldn't pull my eyes away from the spot you disapparated. There's a knot in the wood of the floor board. Dust danced merrily above it in the fading light. Long after you were gone, long after the wisps of dust you sent twirling have settled back down. You might as well have never been here. That made it seem so easy- burst of light from a supernova snuffed off as a candle, or a flick of an electric switch. Dust settled, memories continued stirring.

I would have gone home then. Not before becoming aware of a tickling sensation- a piece of parchment- against my palms, adorned by your slanting script. I couldn't help frowning at it, when did it even get here-

 _I'll see you again. In ten years._

* * *

Harry had gone home then. Home to Ginny, that is. The small perfect square of parchment tucked away in his inner robe pocket, for frankly he didn't have the energy to work out what it means- typical Malfoy cryptics, he thought. Though cryptic is barely what he would associate with Draco nowadays. He'd been so open and plain, soft smiles and warm companionship, that it jars so horribly with the cold sneers under black cloaks- sixth year, wasn't it? Ten years ago?

When he opened the door- as quietly as he can, it's just still napping time- Ginny was at the kitchen table, Albus, who was barely over one, was dozing against her shoulder, where the milkish drool darkened a patch of cloth. The Prophet was held in front of her:

 _"Commotion at King's Cross_

 _Weasley Wheezes spur chaos as children return to school"_

It's September first today. He hadn't realised...

When Ginny finally caught sight of him, she threw a small earnest smile, and the entire of Harry's insides are clenching horribly. Guilt was overwhelming. Suddenly he just wanted to walk away, perhaps to some desolate island or the middle of a desert, where there could be nothing like this to think about.

And from the page of the Prophet, happy families smiled up at him. It's cruel, watching other parents, arm in arm, some joining the grand chase with their children, some standing serenely on the side of bursting happy chaos.

He chanced a glance at Albus. He's one; ten years to go till we join the fray.

Ten years.

Oh.

* * *

Harry kept the note in his desk drawer.

It felt significant. It's a promise, an agreement, something that needed to be kept. It seemed to be an acknowledgement that Draco's still here, in existence, passing the years as Harry did. Surreal, it seemed, that time shall be universal, that two worlds-different paths are running parallel along one another.

He continued to live. As the the ten years was approaching an end, he was promoted to Head of Magical Law Enforcement. After he left Kingsley's office, there wasn't ecstasy, or any strong sense of satisfaction, or even nervousness and anxiety. He simply sat in the office soon not to be his, and stared dumbly at a knot in the wood on the table. Dust danced in the fading light. After a long time, there was finally something- an acknowledgement, or rather, an acceptance, that this is how his life had played out, he wouldn't and couldn't change it now.

* * *

Ten. What a perfectly _round_ number. It's so complete, yet imperfectly so. It's a turn to a new chapter of a book, but familiar themes continue coming back and passing by.

It's the eve of September first, and between the wand-magic mishaps of Albus, begging for _please could we wait another year to give James the cloak_ , and a miserable Lily being comforted by Ginny, Harry found something else crawling to his mind. A very old note.

Well, I do have a promise to keep- he thought, and a small smile tugged at his lips.

* * *

 _Honestly, I don't know what happened either._


	4. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

It's through the shifting white mist of the Hogwarts Express that Draco knew he felt Harry's presence. There's nothing magical about how he knew, no more magical than hearing kids' excited whispers of his name as they run across the platform towards where Harry must be. He needn't turn his head with them, he knew Harry was there. At least, not yet- there's been years of waiting, so what's a little more? For now, he allowed his heart to swell with pride at the sight of his son, talking quietly to his mother, about Hogwarts, his owl, anything and everything; his face bore a smile so bright and pure, echoing the loving one of her mother's.

Draco looked up towards her, Astoria's eyes did not hide the parental sort of longing, of wanting to hold and let go at the same time, and beneath it all, there's so, so much love. For some reason his chest tightens. For the past years and years she's been his anchor, his harbor, and someone for whom he could be a harbor. For all fate's playing, he never thought he'd deserved Astoria. It pained him that he could never return her love in the same dimension and depth of profundity.

He put an arm around her waist, and buried his nose in the faint fragrance of her hair.

"Look at him, all grown up already," she whispered, putting a hand over his and watching their son excitedly trying to pull out his school robes, "it's like only yesterday when he was a one-year-old baby learning to say mama."

Ten years. Passing as though it's been a day.

"But 'Stori, for sure yesterday had been spent unpacking and repacking his things for the fourth time."

Astoria pushed him off playfully, and they both chuckled.

"Draco," she asked, "do you remember the day you first went to Hogwarts?"

Draco smiled, "I sure do." Of course he did. And there's only one person which the memory always lead to. Draco looked up and into the distance, towards the tail of the train-

There he was. Through the dancing mist, Harry stood with his and the Weasleys' family. The two couples, four old friends, merrily chatted away, as their kids surrounded them. They were all so full of happiness.

And Harry. He stood serenely among his friends, and seemed to be mostly listening. Draco could not help the smile pulling as his lips as he momentarily stared at Harry Potter with the rest of the kids around the platform and on the train. His muggle attire. His glasses resting firmly on his nose, his posture and presence hardened by auror days. His hand resting lightly on the shoulder of his son. And his son. It struck him how much the boy resembled Harry- the hair, the eyes, and the mixture of wonder and worry in those brilliant eyes. He looked back at his son, bearing his own blond hair, grey eyes, and pointed chin, he felt transported to all those years back.

* * *

Ron was the first to have spotted him.

" _Look who it is."_

A peculiar warmth washed over Harry. The sight of Draco, through the thinning mist, was as familiar as always, dark coat buttoned up to his throat, hairline pushed back by the years; yet notes of happiness echoed in the faint upturn of his lips, his gaze at his son.

When Draco looked up he'd have found the four of them staring back at him.

For a moment, their eyes locked.

Something shifted in Harry's heart.

But instead of pounding ocean waves or violent waterfalls, it's a small mountain stream under the leaves, flowing soothingly over his heart. Bursting passions were chiseled away by the pass of time; what's left is no supernova, just a steadily burning candle that will never be put out.

Absentmindedly, he pulled out the square of parchment from his pocket. Draco caught sight of it, and Harry knew something shifted in his eyes.

Before the mist thickened again, Draco nodded curtly at the four of them, and turned away. Harry thought he was to be disappointed at how quickly the moment ended, but there's no soft whisper of what might have been, no drift of heartstring with the dancing mist. He looked once last at the piece of parchment in his hand, and charmed it to fly towards Draco's direction.

When he looked down at Albus, Harry found his son's eyes locked with little Scorpius.

* * *

" _What if I'm in Slytherin?"_ Albus whispered to Harry, at his moment of departure.

Harry smiled before crouching down to eye level in front of his son. _Then this way it wouldn't be ten years before I see you again, Draco,_ Harry thought amusedly.

* * *

Later, as the Hogwarts Express left the station, a charmed parchment crane flew along, in the mist and the wind and the golden autumn sun.

 **~the end~**


End file.
